Courts must prioritize safety in domestic-violence custody cases

Courts must treat domestic violence as contrary to the child's best interests and apply a rebuttable presumption against awarding legal decision-making or parenting time to the parent who committed it. The rules apply when one parent is found to have committed domestic violence against the other parent or a minor child in either parent's household. The presumption does not apply to both parents unless the court finds that both acted without similar justification and caused similar injury. The court must consider relevant evidence, including government records, medical or behavioral health records when confidentiality is waived, shelter records with written consent, school records, other domestic violence, and witness testimony. The parent seeking legal decision-making or unsupervised parenting time must overcome the presumption with clear and convincing evidence. Supervised parenting time requires a preponderance of the evidence. The court may not require the victim to prove that the violence was severe or frequent enough to justify restrictions. The act is an emergency measure and is operative immediately as provided by law.

Courts may impose safety conditions on a parent who committed domestic violence, including supervised or limited visits, protected exchanges, treatment, testing, fees, or a bond. These conditions apply to parenting time involving a child and a parent found to have committed domestic violence. The court may suspend contact until the parent can seek a later modification, require a domestic-violence assessment or intervention program, and require substance abstinence and random testing when substance abuse is found. A victim of domestic violence may not be appointed to supervise visits or be required to join the abusive parent in treatment, counseling, or a forensic assessment. A court-appointed lay supervisor must receive the court order, provide reliable contact information, intervene when needed, contact appropriate authorities, and appear for later proceedings. The conditions apply when the court enters or enforces a legal decision-making or parenting-time order involving a parent who committed domestic violence.

Courts must make written domestic-violence findings in temporary custody proceedings, and a parent who previously failed to overcome the presumption remains subject to it in later modification cases. The rules cover temporary legal decision-making or parenting-time proceedings and later requests to change an order involving a parent previously found to have committed domestic violence. Temporary-order findings may be limited to evidence admitted at the temporary-orders hearing. In a later modification case, the court must decide as a preliminary matter whether new evidence overcomes the presumption when deciding whether a sufficient change in circumstances exists. The continuing presumption applies regardless of the allegations in the new filing. The continuing presumption applies in modification proceedings after the parent previously failed to rebut the domestic-violence presumption.